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Andrew Roger Evolutionary biologist

Andrew Roger’s work is focused on three general research initiatives: early cellular evolution, the genomics of unicellular nucleated organisms (protists), and evolutionary bioinformatics.

In early cellular evolution, Roger and his team have been working on discerning the relationships between the major life forms on Earth. He focuses on the very base of the tree of life to understand the major events that occurred in the evolution of life on this planet.

In protist genomics, Roger has undertaken genome surveys of three evolutionarily and medically important protists: Spironucleus barkhanus (Atlantic salmon parasite), Trichomonas vaginalis (human STD) and Naegleria gruberi (soil amoeba). His goal is to elucidate both the common denominators of nucleated cells (the genes that are shared between them) and the things that distinguish these evolutionarily divergent protist organisms from multi-cellular nucleated organisms. This knowledge will improve understanding of the ways in which genomes of eukaryotic cells change and how such changes occur. Furthermore, by studying the differences between genomes of parasites and their hosts, candidate potential drug targets can be identified.

Roger’s work on evolutionary bioinformatics involves modeling the process of evolution at the molecular level by understanding how molecules and genomes change, both functionally and structurally, over the billion-year time scale. The dynamics of this process are only beginning to be understood.